Welcome to Buffalo tours

1) Receive 25% discount on the following tours (Must be booked and paid in May 2007):

Sapa Retreat (VSDSP5)
Kayaking Halong Bay (VAKHL4)
Jewel of the Delta Day Cruise (VACDTC)

2) Receive 5% discount on any booking with a minimum spend of $1500 (Must be booked and paid in May 2007)

Buffalo Tours wins PATA Award

Buffalo Tours CEO, Mr Tran Trong Kien, has been awarded the PATA ‘Face of the Future’ Award. The award was presented at the PATA annual general meeting in Vancouver on 21st April 2007. The ‘Face of the Future’ award recognizes young tourism leaders and their positive contributions to regional tourism.

The Award also recognizes efforts to train and develop local staff, and support sustainable tourism, in line with PATA’s regional objectives.

PATA Vice President of Operations, Michael Yates said “The PATA judging panel was impressed by Kien’s entrepreneurial energy which has driven the steady expansion of Buffalo Tours, and Kien’s success in growing inbound tourism to Vietnam.”

Congratulations Kien!

Snake Festival

Vietnam is a land of many festivals – this one however, is not for the faint-hearted. Each year, Le Mat village, (about 7km northeast from downtown Hanoi) hosts a Snake Festival. Le Mat is famous for a long-standing trade: snake catching and breeding, snake wine and tonics and snake dishes.

The Le Mat Village Festival is held annually on the 23rd of the 3rd lunar month – and this year it falls on Wednesday 9th May. The Le Mat Village Festival provides an opportunity for children in the village, and those who have reclaimed this ancient wasteland in the city, to meet and retell the history of the establishment of the village. The challenge and difficulty that was encountered in the establishment of the village is expressed in the sincere homage of the ancestors of the village.

In addition to the ceremony, the Le Mat people have a special talent for catching snakes. While attending the Le Mat Village Festival, guests are offered a cup of snake wine made from three or five snakes.

To visit to the Snake Festival with some local experts – contact us on info@buffalotours.com or call toll free 18001583 (within Vietnam

New Saigon Office

We have opened a new office in Saigon to manage our growing business – we have moved within Jardine house to a larger office and retail sales area. The new address and contact details are Suite 601 of Jardine House, 58 Dong Khoi, District 1. Tel: (84-8) 827 9170

New Saigon Tour Desk – The New World Hotel
A new Buffalo Tours sales desk has opened at the New World Hotel in Saigon . Our sales desk is located in the hotel lobby for booking tours, day trips, hotels and flights.

1) Cuc Phuong National park
Vietnam’s first and largest national park and home to the endangered primate rescue centre. Endangered primates include Langurs, Loris, and Gibbons

2) Mount Fansipan
You won’t find a better view of Vietnam, than from the country’s highest mountain. Located 9km south-west of Sapa, Nth Vietnam, at a height of 3,143m. Mount Fansipan has been approved as one of the few eco-tourist spots of Vietnam, with about 2,024 floral varieties and 327 faunal species.

3) Nam Cat Tien National park
Located North-west of Ho Chi Minh city, it is home to the endangered Javan ‘One horn’ Rhino and a treasure-trove of biodiversity, located on 75,000 hectares.

4) Kirriom National Park
Located south west Cambodia the park has spectacular scenery and waterfalls. It is also home to many endangered species of animals such as pleated gibbon, sun bear and tiger

5) Muang Ngoi Laos
The relaxing village of Muang Ngoi in northern Laos is blessed with beautiful mountain and river scenery and friendly hill tribes.

Please contact us for more information.

Or visit www.buffalotours.com

Markets Galore

An unforgettable way to get to know Vietnam's unique cuisine is to traverse the narrow aisles of a fresh produce market, where shoppers jostle for space with motorcyclists and wooden tables are piled high with an incredible variety of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat.

Produce markets can be found across the South-East Asian country and a visit is an all-consuming and sometimes confronting experience that is about as far removed from the usual weekend trip to the supermarket as you can get.

Here you feel, smell and often taste the produce on offer before buying. You see it being prepared, chopped up and carefully displayed, ready for purchase by the thousands of Vietnamese who buy their food fresh every day.

Here are some of our favorite markets:

· Coc Ly Highland Market
Markets in highland areas where ethnic minorities reside are not only places of commerce, but also cultural festivals. People wear their nicest clothes and spend some days at the market. They may play their pan-flutes, dance, sing and meet new friends. Therefore, markets in highland areas are also called Love Markets (Cho Tinh).

· Mekong Delta Floating Markets
There is a very interesting kind of market in the Mekong River Delta. Thousands of boats gather to form a place of economic activity. Trading activities take place all day, but the most exciting time is in the morning when boats arrive loaded up with agricultural products. On a floating market all trade activities take place on boats. The largest include Phung Hiep, Nga Bay, Phong Dien (in Hau Giang), Cai Rang (in Can Tho) and Cai Be (in Tien Giang. Floating markets are held every morning from 5:00 to about 11:00.

· Hoi An Fish market

Vietnam’s long coastline means that, throughout most of the country, seafood is fresh and abundant. Hoi An is no different, and a visit to the lively Hoi An fish market in the early hours of the morning is a must! From daybreak, the distinctive red and blue fishing boats pull up to the dock unloading the fish they’ve caught the previous night. Conical hats are everywhere. For the next few hours the dock takes on a frenzied atmosphere as locals descend on the market, after the freshest fish and the best price. This is a unique experience and a must-see for photographers.

· Saigon Binh Tay, Cholon

Cholon is well known for the Binh Tay market - the city’s most colorful, vibrant and lively daily market. Here you can experience a more hectic and varied shopping experience than you’d find back home. Through the crowds, shrimp and fish can be smelt and bought in abundance, as can local fruit, vegetables, rice, noodles and any other food that you can name in Vietnamese cooking. Different materials like silk are also on offer as are clothes, shoes, bags, accessories, kitchenware…and the list goes on!

To design your own market tour email:

info@buffalotours.com

“We were very happy with Buffalo Tours. We began making inquiries of Buffalo Tours not long before we left the USA for Vietnam, and we think you did a wonderful job of accommodating our requests on such short notice. Thank you.”

Virginia and Kenneth Loewe, USA

“I have been meaning to write to you and thank you for helping me organise my trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. It was particularly special being in Vietnam during the Tet celebrations. We were very well looked after and all our arrangements ran very smoothly. Our guides were also great in particular our guide in Ho Chi Minh City, Tin. He was a wealth of knowledge and very enthusiastic about his job.”

Honni Procter, Sydney Australia

HCMC
Jardine House, Suite 601, No.58 Dong Khoi, District 1, Tel: (84-8) 827 9170 - Fax: (84-8) 827 9168
Hanoi:
94 Ma May Street, Hoan Kiem District Tel: (84-4) 828 0702 - Fax: (84-4) 826 9370

Siem Reap:
No. 0618 Wat Bo St, Siem Reap, Cambodia, Tel: (85-5) 63 963 354 Email: info@buffalotours.com Internet: www.buffalotours.com

Designed by www.monotone.com.vn

0913 066 840


Hanoi: 94 Ma May street, Tel: (84-4) 828 0702 HCMC: Jardine House, Suite 601, No.58 Dong Khoi, D1, Tel: (84-8) 822 9170 Siem Reap: No. 0618 Wat Bo St, Siem Reap, Cambodia, Tel: (85-5) 63 963 354